Hmm. I feel like I'm a little old to be writing a high school musical fic, but I can't help myself. Here goes!

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Troy allowed himself a small sigh of relief as his shot--his twentieth free throw in a row to be exact--swished through the net. The sun had sunk almost out of sight, and with an exhausted groan Troy realized it was getting late, and he still had all of his homework left to do. He began trudging back to the house when a heavy hand came down on his shoulder.

"Where do you think you're going?" Troy's father and coach implored of him. With the start of the basketball season fast approaching and the Wildcats getting some pre-season buzz for the possibility of a state title, Coach Jack Bolton was more determined than ever to get Troy into the best shape of his life. Hence the after school practicing, which was becoming an all too common event.

"In?" Troy replied, "I thought you said I was done when I got my 20 free throws." He looked up at his father hopefully, but was disappointed with his response.

"No, I said you were done with basketball when you did that. Not running. 4 laps around the block should do it for today." Troy groaned, but nonetheless set out like his father asked of him. His tired legs screamed in protest at the movement, but after a lap they had loosened up a little. The cool air was refreshing, and he let himself relax into a steady pace. It seemed his father was getting more and more unreasonable with his practice schedule, but what else was new. Troy was used to the demanding practices his dad held, but it did seem a little early to be getting so intense. The season hadn't even started yet.

As Troy ran past the house at the start of his fourth lap, he passed his dad walking out to the car and pulling on his jacket. "Troy!" Jack shouted after him, "tell your mother not to wait up, I'll be out late. And you think that pace is gonna win the state championship? Pick it up!" Troy breathed heavily as he forced his legs to move just a little bit faster. Sweat blurred his vision as he heard his father's truck crank up. Momentarily, it was coasting beside him. "8 miles per hour Troy? Pathetic. Come on!" The car picked up speed as Jack yelled at his son out the window to keep up. Troy's legs moved faster and faster, each step hurting more than the last. Finally, the engine roared as the truck disappeared into the distance, and Troy, done with his last lap, collapsed in the front yard to let his aching body recover. It was going to be a long year.

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Troy walked into school the next morning exhausted. He had stayed up half the night trying to finish his english paper, only to wake up in the morning with his head on the keyboard and two pages left to write. It would have to be late but his uptight English teacher, Ms. Lewis, was not going to be happy.

Nonetheless he arrived in home room just on time and plastered on a smile. He gave his best friend Chad a quick high-five before sliding into the seat next to him in the back of the room. They had just started up a conversation about the upcoming weekend when Ms. Darbus made her usual dramatic entrance.

"Class!" She exclaimed, slamming a book down onto her desk and causing most of the students to jump in their seats. "I am happy to announce that we have a new student today. One Ms." she squinted here, trying to read the name on the sheet of paper in front of her, "Gabriella Montez will be joining us from now on. Would you care to introduce yourself, Ms. Montez?" Ms. Darbus directed her question to a girl sitting in the second row, on the far right of the room, and Troy craned his neck to see her. She was sunk down low in her seat, obviously embarassed, and all Troy could see of her was her dark, curly locks.

After a second of silence, she stood up and turned around to face the class. She gave a little wave and piped up in a quiet voice, "Hi. I'm Gabriella. I just moved here from California and, um, I guess that's about it." Quickly, she turned back around and sunk down low in her seat. 'Man, she's shy,' Troy thought to himself. 'But kinda cute, too.' He didn't have time to spare much more thought for her, however, as Ms. Darbus immediately plunged into their latest lesson on Shakespeare's "Hamlet."

Troy's mind couldn't help but wander as he mindlessly copied down notes on the timeless play. He had five more classes after this, and basketball practice during his off period. Next he went home for more basketball practice and homework. Then to bed, and to do it all over tomorrow. He couldn't help but think, with a sarcastic smirk, 'O! what a rogue and peasant slave am I!' *

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"Mr. Bolton." Ms. Lewis accentuated each word with a dramatic step in his direction. Her dirty blonde hair was pulled back into a tight bun that furthered her already intimidating appearance. "Would you care to give me a reason as to why you are the only student to not have his paper ready to turn in today?" Troy sunk down a little lower in his seat as she advanced on him. Ms. Lewis had a reputation throughout school for being extremely strict and void of any sympathy at all, but she seemed to have a special dislike for Troy. She took every chance she could get to belittle him or make him feel uncomfortable. Troy gulped before his response.

"Um. No ma'am? I guess I just fell asleep before I had a chance to finish it. Sorry."

Ms. Lewis's dark blue eyes narrowed behind thin glasses. "Well sorry isn't going to cut it this time. Detention today, after school. And I'm taking a letter grade off; if you don't have it by tomorrow it's a zero. Got it?" Troy nodded and immediately dropped his gaze down to his desk; Ms. Lewis's piercing glare was starting to freak him out. She turned on her heel and made her way back to the blackboard.

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The bell signaling the end of the day finally rang, and Troy shouldered his backpack before heading to detention. Luckily, the regular basketball season hadn't started yet so he wasn't missing any after school practices. His dad would surely be furious if he was. Coming to a halt in front of Ms. Darbus's empty room, he tried the doorknob and found that it was locked. That was odd, Ms. Darbus always presided over detentions, but it seemed that today no one was there.

Shrugging, Troy turned around to leave and collided head on with a girl holding a large stack of books with dark curly hair. The new girl! Troy thought.

"Gosh, I'm so sorry! I didn't even see you!" Troy babbled, he ran a hand nervously through his hair before hurriedly bending down to help her. The girl was gathering all of her things and looked up at Troy when he talked.

"Oh, it's fine. It's my fault, sorry." Standing up at the same time, they awkwardly stood for a moment in the newly deserted hallway.

"Oh! I'm Troy." He smiled at her, and stuck out his hand.

She shook it, and replied, "nice to meet you. I'm --"

"Gabriella." They finished in unison. "I'm in your homeroom, I remembered your name from this morning," Troy explained. "So, what are you doing still here?"

"Oh. Well, um, I got detention, actually."

"Detention! On your first day! Man, you must be a troublemaker," Troy teased, raising one eyebrow in mock conspiracy.

Gabriella blushed. "Not at all!" she replied, "It's just my English teacher, Ms. Lewis I think was her name, gave me detention for being late. It took me forever to find her classroom."

"No way!" Troy replied, "on your first day here? What a jerk. She gave me detention too! That woman is out of control. Well, seeing as I don't think there is detention today," Troy gestured to the empty classroom, "would you like me to show you out? Wouldn't want to get lost again," he joked.

"Yeah, that'd be great."

Together, they headed toward the front of the school, and said their goodbyes outside. As Troy trudged home, he couldn't help but think that there was something different about that girl.

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Troy banged open the front door to his house, planning on heading straight upstairs to catch a short nap before his dad had him back out on the court. He dropped his backpack, but jumped unexpectedly as his dad stood up from the coach combing through his hair and buttoning up his shirt.

"Troy!" he barked, obviously surprised. "What are you doing here! Don't you have detention this afternoon?"

"Well, yeah," he explained, "but no one was in the room, so I just figured I'd have to do it another da--wait, how'd you know I had detention?" He asked, stepping closer to the couch, trying to see what was going on. His heart stopped for a brief second and he stumbled backwards when he saw who had been laying, half naked, underneath his father.

"Ms. Lewis!?"

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Review :)